Improved portable headrrest



UNITED STATES PATENT l OFFICE.

J. M. VHITNEY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVED PORTABLE HEADfREST-I4 Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 51,987, dated January 9, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. WHITNEY, of Boston, of the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a Travelers Portable Head-Rest, to be applied to the back of a chair or to the seat of a railway-carriage, and for the purpose of supporting the head of a sitter thereon; and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specification, and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure l denotes a front elevation; Fig. 2, a rear View; Fig. 3, a side elevation, and Fig. 4 a longitudinal section of it.

In the said drawings, A exhibits a post or standard connected at its upper end to the back board, a, ot' a cushion, B, by means of a dovetailed tongue and groove so formed and arranged as to enable the two to be readily separated from one another for the purpose of being packed together in a convenient inanner. A wedge, C, is similarlyr connected to the rear side of the standard A, and so as to enable such wedge to be moved up and down thereon and still be in connection with the standard. This wedge is intended to operate with a metallic clamp, D, and its cam-lever E, which are formed and a-pplied tothe standard and its wedge in manner as represented in the drawings. Each arm b of the clamp is slotted, as shown at c, and receives a pin, d, projecting in opposite direction from a guard, E', which is a rectangular piece of wood arranged between the said arms in manner as exhibited. The projections of the supportingpin are arranged near two of the corners of the guard, in order that such guard, when turned down, may be moved either against the inner face of the jaw of the clamp or up againstthe standard. When turned upin ahorizontal position the guard may be supposed to be out of place for being used on either side of' a chair-back, its object being to it the apparatus to a car-seat back, of which the wood projects above the cushion. It takes a bearing against the wood and serves to aid in maintaining the standard in its correct, or upright, or nearly upright, position. It also enables the clamp to gain a better hold on the back than it would otherwise have. The fast ening-lever E is constructed with a cam, d', to work against the wedge.

- When the apparatus is to be fixed to va carseat the standard is to be placed against the back thereof, and so as to extend above the same the necessary distance. The clamp is next to be made to embrace the top ot' thek seat, the cam -lever being raised up to its highest position. Next, the wedge should be. forced upward between the standard and the cam of the said lever, after which the lever should be turned down so as to cause the cani to bear on the wed ge, and thus draw the clam p hard up to the car-back.

The above constitutes a convenient and portable head-rest for the use of travelers by railway-cars.

I am aware that it is not new to apply a cushion to the back ot' a chair by a standard going through a mortise therein, or one or more supports applied thereto, and having a clamp-screw, in which case the clamping devices have been so fixed to the chair as not to be removable therefrom with the head-rest, as is the case in my invention.

`What I claim as of my invention is l. The combination and arrangement of the said clamp D, wedge C, and cam-lever E, with the standard A and head-rest B.

2. The combination and arrangement of the adjustable guard E with the said clamp D and its lever E, or the same and the wedge C, when applied to a head-rest for carriages, as herein mentioned.

3. The combination of the guard Ev, clamp D, and lever E, with the standard A and headrest B, the whole being substantially as hereinbei'ore described.

J. M. WHITNEY.

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, F. P. HALE, Jr. 

